Opera 101
by SporkGoddess
Summary: Use the term main soprano role? Don't know what a cadenza is? Use various musical and Disney songs as legitimate opera arias? Then this course is for you! Come to Opera 101, where everyone's favorite Opera Ghost explains the basics of operas to our yo


_Disclaimer:_ I am writing this for the more opera-ignorant section of Phanfiction authors. It is up to you to determine whether you are one or not. I do not mean to imply that every author knows nothing about opera, or that I know more than anyone else on it. These are just really basic things that I needed to inform people about, because reading the same mistakes over and over was pretty much starting to make me go insane. Something had to be done. I am intending to inform, not insult; I do not mean to offend anyone. I am sorry if I do. But, seriously, someone had to say this stuff.

In this story, Erik mentions the "fach system." Its application to opera today is greatly disputed; however, back then opera companies used it.

Erik is out-of-character, I am sure. I valiantly struggled to keep him somewhat IC, but it was hard given what he is doing in this fic, which already makes him breaking the fourth wall. Characterization is not what I was focusing on here. Please do not review with "Erik is OOC"! I will cry and bang my head against the wall.

Marie Susette is not meant to be any Mary Sue in particular; she is an exaggerated conglomerate of her "species." I assure you that, if you have written an OC, I was not thinking of your character above all others. And, honestly, I don't think I've seen any Mary Sue with as short an attention span as this girl.

Also, this fic contains some shots at ALW, since some of the things he pulled in his musical version seriously aggravate me. I have some severe problems with it—yes, I have seen the stage version and the movie (unfortunately... whoops, did I just type that?); I own the Canadian Recording, the OLC, and Claire Moore and John Barrowman's highlights version. However, my love of opera far exceeds my love of the _Phantom_ musical. But, don't worry, I adore _Evita _and _Jesus Christ Superstar_.

Now, let's get down to it, shall we?

**_Opera 101_**

By the Almighty SporkGoddess

"Good evening," Standing in what sort of resembled a very tiny version of a university lecture hall, a skeletal figure in a mask acknowledged his audience politely. "I am Erik, otherwise known as the Opera Ghost, or the Phantom of the Opera."

"Eriiiiiiik!" The girl next to him squealed. "Sing "Music of the Night"!"

The monster sighed. Ignoring her request, he stated, "and this is Marie Suzette. Normally I would not be consorting with a lady of her nature, but I have been assured that this is for a good cause."

"Oh yes, a good cause! Because Erik has such a good heart! Oh, why couldn't Christine see that?" The girl sobbed, clinging to Erik. "Gerry, I can see past your disfigurement!"

Knowing that this was a movie Phan, Erik resisted the urge to correct her with "bad sunburn." There were bigger fish to fry—or, Punjab--at the moment.

"Marie is here to represent her ilk, ignorant Phans; usually of the movie, but I must not generalize here. She is to demonstrate the ridiculously bad knowledge of my art that her ilk possesses. This lack of knowledge has been more than frustrating to a certain author, and, as I am after all the Angel of Music—"

He was interrupted when Marie, triggered by a reference to the musical, burst into song: "Aaaaaangel of muuuuusic, guide and guardian!"

Erik twitched, but resumed his diatribe: "I have been chosen by her to correct it in hopes that budding fanfiction authors will listen and at least part of her headache caused by this fandom can at last subside. In case you have not realized, the art to which I am referring is..."

He turned to the chalkboard and wrote on it, then stood aside, gesturing to it.

"Welcome to 'Opera 101,' a one-chapter course in which we will cover the basics of my art. Now, "The Phantom of the Opera" takes place in an opera and involves opera, and therefore in fanfiction it is addressed. This is understandable. What is not, however, is the ignorance concerning it. Allow me to demonstrate."

He turned to Marie, who trembled at finally being noticed by the love of her life. "Mademoiselle, would you care to indulge me with an aria?"

After squeeing a good deal, Marie began to sing:

_Think of me, think of me fondly_

_When we've said "goodbye"_

Just as she was getting into it, though, Erik cut her off.

"No."

"No? Yes! That is the aria Christine wows everyone with at the beginning!" Marie sighed dreamily.

"Very well. Could you sing me an aria that has not been written by a Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber?" Erik requested. "And, no, "Point of No Return" does not count"

Marie's expression went blank. "Umm..."

Erik sighed and looked straight at the reader. "Do you see what I mean by "lack of opera knowledge"? "Think of Me" is not a real aria. It is not real opera. While it may pass as such in the fandom, it gets frustrating to see every girl sing it because it is the only thing resembling an aria that they know. It is especially saddening when they take a song that isn't even from the ALW musical and attempt to pass it off as from an opera."

"Well, what do you suggest I do, huh smart guy?" Marie demanded, her sense of insult overpowering her fangirlishness.

"While it is tragic that a fan of "The Phantom of the Opera" is not a fan of opera itself, it is a fact that must be faced, since it is a musical and not an opera. Therefore, I suggest research. It is not hard to find out song titles, particularly soprano arias."

Marie was frowning slightly, apparently thinking about how much work this would entail.

"Furthermore," Erik continued, "if you do use songs from the ALW musical, I beseech you: please do not include the entire lyrics. Chances are, your reader knows them."

Marie blinked. "They... do? Really?"

"Moving on," the monster said. "You would not believe the number of times that the term "lead soprano of the opera house" appears throughout various fanfics. Such a term is incorrect. Allow me to explain the structure of opera roles."

"In opera, roles are divided according to vocal part by fach, the German opera system of voice classification. If a singer were signed into a company as a particular fach, that singer would be required to sing all of those roles designated for that fach. It is not "lead female" or "lead male" by any means. Christine and Carlotta's problem did not arise in the fact that they were both female, but in the fact that they were both competing for the same part—given the fact that both played Marguerite, this would most likely be lyric soprano. The different soprano fachs are as follows:

- Soubrette (Susanna in _Le Nozze di Figaro,_)

- Lyric (Mimi in _La Boheme,_)

- Lyric coloratura (Lakm_e_ in _Lakme,_)

- Dramatic (Madame Butterfly in _Madame Butterfly,) _

- Dramatic coloratura (Queen of the Night in _Die Zauberflote,_)

- Spinto (Donna Elvira in _Don Giovanni._)"

"There are also mezzo sopranos—for two examples, a lyric mezzo soprano would play a pants role (a female part that requires playing a boy, like the Page Boy in _Il Muto_) like Cherubino in _Le Nozze di Figaro_, and dramatic mezzo a role such as the title character of _Carmen_."

Marie's eyes had glazed over, but Erik took no notice.

"In the novel in which I made my debut, Christine first played Siebel in _Faust_ before she played Marguerite, which is a mezzo-soprano role and certainly not a bad part. Unlike ALW made it seem, she was not a member of the corps de ballet or a chorus girl. Most of the opera in the ALW musical are inaccurate in that there is only one prominent female role. Especially _Il Muto_, which was a parody of a Mozart opera. Mozart actually gave many roles to women. But, I digress."

The girl's mind slowly processed this. "So there's no such thing as a lead soprano in an opera company?"

"So intelligent, mademoiselle. Brava," Erik said sarcastically. "Now, would you care to tell me what the Paris Opera House's name is?"

"Oh, that's easy," Marie replied confidently. "Opera Populaire!"

"Wrong again."

"I'm not wrong! It's in the musical! You sing it! "_Your days at the Opera Populaire are numbered_..."

"Yes, that is it in the musical. But in real life, it is the _Palais Garnier_. If you were to go visit it in Paris, that is what you would find."

Marie did not respond, obviously too busy making mental plans to go visit le _Academie Nationale de Musique._

"For another matter," Erik paused, "I have grown weary of the constant under-appreciation of ballet in the fanfiction world. I honestly do not know what ALW was thinking when he made Christine a ballerina... oh, yeah, he was thinking that Sarah Brightman was a good dancer, so he should show that off, even if it meant sacrificing plot points. Erm, anyway, ballet is very difficult and requires years of training leg muscles before one can even dance _en pointe_. It is an insult to ballet dancers everywhere to have a girl just show up and be put into the _corps de ballet_. It is also an insult to complain that one will just "be dancing" in an opera, not singing a role. Dancing in an opera is a great achievement and just as respectable as singing in one; in the end, it all comes down to personal preference."

"You're boring," Marie complained. "Can I go now?"

"I am glad to be reaching you," the monster said dryly, "but not yet. There is one more issue, one that causes great headaches to knowledgeable readers..."

"Oh, fine, get it over with already."

"In "Think of Me," the last part of the song contains what is known as a _cadenza_. From a classical music dictionary:

**Cadenza (It.).** A flourish (properly, improvised) inserted into the final cadence of any section of a vocal aria or a solo instr. movement. The conventional final cadence consists, harmonically, of 3 chords, the 2nd inversion of the tonic chord, and the dominant and tonic chords in root position (i.e. 6/5 5/3 on the dominant bass, followed by 5/3 on the tonic bass). The interpolated cadenza begins on the first of these chords, the orch. joining in again only when the soloist, after a display of vocal or instr. virtuosity, indicates by a long trill that he or she is ready to be rejoined in the final chords or in any passage elaborated out of them.

In the operatic aria conventional practice admitted 3 cadenzas—one at the end of each of its sections (see **aria**), the most elaborate being reserved to the last. The term _melisma_ has been used for the vocal cadenza."

Erik took a deep breath, then continued: "The cadenza in "Think of Me" is, as I said, during the last part, on the "of." Authors have this annoying tendency of not knowing what it is called and thus coming up with all sorts of creative ways to describe it, from calling it "opera singing" to actually typing it out phoenetically: "_ooooo-ooo-oo-ffff me_!" You do not have to write it out like that. You can just call it a cadenza, because that's what it is. Anyone familiar with opera should be familiar with the term."

"Is that all?" Marie asked, her attention span having started to dwindle.

"Yes, for now. I may hold another session of this course sometime, depending on the overall intelligence of writers everywhere."

Once more Erik looked at what would be his audience: "So, there you have it. Opera for beginners. I hope that you take into heart what I have said. If you want to go more in-depth, there is plenty of information available for those who seek it. So, good luck, everyone."

_** Fin **_

_Author's Note_: I explained everything in the beginning so I'll just list the two main sources I used, since they deserved to be credited:

"The Aria Database" - http/ - I recommend this website for anyone who wants information on opera aria. You can find it according to opera, composer, the role name, almost anything.

"Classical Music Archives" - http/ - Lots of goodies here; for this story I used the dictionary to define "cadenza."

There is another fanfic explaining opera basics, called "Meg Giry is Not an Alto!" Unfortunately, I started this before I knew of that fanfic's existence. I continued in good conscience because the only thing we both covered was "fach," the rest of the things are entirely different. It's also very informative (even covers things like vocal warmups,) so I recommend it.

While I will leave comments to reviews, if you have any further questions, you can feel free to contact me. I love discussing opera. Mind you, I am by no means an expert. I am not trying to claim to be one. I am still learning, myself!

One last note: It is not hard to find a good aria. "Habanera" from _Carmen_ was in a Pepsi ™ commercial and an episode of "Family Guy." You can hear "Un Bel di Vedremo" from _Madame Butterfly_ in everything from "The Simpsons" to "Dharma and Greg." There is plenty of information out there about various opera arias, lyrics included. Just use a search engine. Or one of the websites that I listed.

I will reiterate what Erik said: Good luck, my fellow authors!


End file.
